PROS:
- 60x zoom
- Raw format shooting
- Full manual control
CONS:
- No Wi-Fi
- No touchscreen
- Low resolution, small EVF
The bridge camera market is one that is continuing to perform well, amid a general downturn in compact camera sales.
Bridge cameras fall into the compact camera area of the market, not because of their small overall size (far from it), but because of their relatively small sensor.
The FZ72's 16.1 million pixel High Sensitivity MOS sensor is 1/2.3 inches, the same size as found in many (premium compact) cameras. What makes bridge cameras such as the FZ72 stand out is of course their huge zoom ranges. The FZ72 takes that principle to the extreme, with its 60x zoom range making it the longest available on the market.
Other cameras in this area of the market, such as the Canon SX50 HS and Sony HX300 offer 50x optical zooms, which are pretty impressive but are left somewhat in the shade by the 20-1200mm equivalent the FZ72 is capable of. What's also impressive is the wide angle of 20mm, with most cameras like this offering 24 or 28mm starting point, perhaps giving the FZ72 the edge for landscape photographers.
At its widest point, the FZ72 offers the appealing f/2.8 maximum aperture, matching the Sony HX300, but beating the Canon HS50 which is only capable of f/3.5 at the widest point. The FZ72 has a slightly wider maximum aperture at its full 1200mm, offering f/5.9, compared with the Sony's f/6.3 and Canon's f/6.5.
Intelligent Zoom and Intelligent Resolution are included to boost that 60x zoom even further up to an equivalent of 120x. A separate tele conversion lens is also available to boost the optics of the lens up to 102x.
Aimed at enthusiast photographers, the FZ72 is capable of shooting in raw format and has full manual control along with semi-automatic modes such as aperture priority and shutter priority. There are also digital filters, such as Expressive, Retro, Dynamic Monochrome and so on that you can choose from. Panoramic mode is also included.
Round the back
On the back of the camera is a three-inch LCD screen with approximately 460k dots, but Panasonic has decided not to make this fixed position device touch-sensitive. There is also an electronic viewfinder, which is 0.2 inches in size and 202k dots.
As you might expect, full HD video recording is available in 60i, 50i and 25p. A hotshoe is also included for adding accessories such as external flashguns, though an inbuilt flash is also included.
As of October 2013, the FZ72 is available at a price which is a touch more expensive than its nearest rivals, the Canon SX50 HS and the Sony HX300, but not enough to take it out of contention.
All of these cameras are available for around the same price as some beginner DSLRs such as the Nikon D3200 or Canon EOS 1100D. Although those cameras have much larger sensors, you'd need to shell out a hell of a lot of cash to get the same kind of zoom range from a DSLR lens, so this is aimed primarily at traveling photographers and those who want maximum flexibility without having to carry around heavy and expensive equipment.
Very much styled in a DSLR fashion, the FZ72 could be mistaken for an entry-level model in the same vein as a Nikon D3200 at first glance. It has a larger than average lens for a bridge camera, which is unsurprising considering its enormous zoom range.
A chunky hand grip to the side of the camera is useful when shooting one-handed, while the rubberised coating makes it feel especially secure in the hand and gives it a high quality feel at the same time.
Fans of direct access dials and buttons should find lots to like about the FZ72, as the lack of a touchscreen means that the entire operation of the camera is carried out via the various buttons available.
On top of the camera is a mode dial for quickly switching between the various exposure modes available, including fully automatic, shutter priority and aperture priority, creative modes, scene modes, panoramic mode and movie mode. There's also space here for a group of custom settings, which is a useful touch if you often find yourself shooting in one particular scenario, such as low light.
On the back of the camera is a four way navigational dial, which gives you quick access to ISO, white balance, drive mode and a customisable function button. It's also used to navigate around the menu system, or when selecting an autofocus point.
A quick menu is also included for accessing commonly used settings, such as file type, colour and metering, this is accessed via a dedicated button to the bottom right of the back of the camera, which doubles up as a delete button when playing back images.
To switch between different focusing kinds, such as autofocus, autofocus macro and manual focusing, another dedicated button is found on the back of the camera. Another button can either be used as a customisable function button or as the AF/AE lock button. Burst shooting can be activated via a button on top of the camera, and up to 9fps is available. Clearly Panasonic has thought about how people like to use an advanced camera, and has included a decent range of buttons and customisation.
Up to your eye
The camera's electronic viewfinder doesn't have a sensor for automatically detecting when the camera is lifted to your eye, which is unfortunate as it makes the process a little disjointed. Instead, you will need to push the LVF button to switch it on - and off again.
Activating the pop up flash is a simple case of pressing a dedicated button on the back of the camera. Pushing this up will activate automatic flash, so you will need to push the flash back down again to switch it off completely.
A scrolling dial at the top of the thumb rest at the back of the camera is used to alter aperture or shutter speed, depending on the mode you're working in. If you push the dial in, it can then be used to alter exposure compensation when shooting in aperture priority or shutter priority. When in fully manual, pushing in the dial will switch between altering aperture and shutter speed.
Huge zoom, small switch
To zoom in and out of the FZ72's extensive 60x zoom range, a small switch around the shutter release button is used. Zooming is fairly quick and fluid, although with such a long range, getting to the full 60x is less than instant. One useful function which is found in the full menu is the 'zoom resume' feature, which means the camera will power up at the same zoom length it was at when you switched it off.
Unfortunately, although there are 23 autofocus points available on the camera, you can't choose them for yourself. Instead, you can pick between Face Detection, AF Tracking, 23-Area and 1-Area focusing. By choosing the 23-Area option, the camera will automatically pick a point to use. If you want more flexibility, the best option you have is to choose 1-Area, which is the centre point, and focus and recompose. It seems a bit unusual that a camera that is so otherwise enthusiast friendly doesn't offer this as an option.
If you've used any Panasonic cameras before, such as other Lumix compacts or even the Lumix G compact system cameras, you'll be more than at home with the menu system on board the FZ72. It's sensibly arranged, with most settings exactly where you'd expect them to be and split into three sections, one for shooting settings, one for movie record settings and other for general camera settings (such as setting the clock for example).
We've come to expect great things from Panasonic of late, especially from their interchangeable lens G series range. We've also been impressed by their Lumix compact cameras such as the TZ40 and FZ200.
Fortunately, the FZ72 carries on that tradition, producing excellent images in a range of different conditions. Colours are bright and punchy without displaying too much saturation, though you can choose to boost saturation if you want to emphasise bold colours.
The FZ72's 16.1 million pixel sensor is capable of producing very detailed images, while there's very little evidence of fringing or chromatic aberration even when shooting fairly high contrast subjects.
There is some evidence of image smoothing, even at lower sensitivities, when examining images at 100%, but it's not noticeable at normal printing and web sizes, such as A4 and below.
Of course, the stand out feature of the FZ72 is its zoom range, which makes it especially important that it performs well in this area. It's great to have a wide angle of 20mm, putting it above the likes of the Sony WX300 and Canon SX50 IS, which both offer 24mm at the maximum wide point. It doesn't sound like much, but it can help to get more of the scene in and will likely be appreciated by landscape and perhaps even architectural photographers.
Optical image stabilisation does an excellent job of helping to produce blur free images even at the telephoto end of the huge 60x zoom range. If you do need extra reach, the FZ72 also offers Intelligent Resolution, a type of digital zoom. This is also a good option, and despite the fact that some detail is lost when examining at 100%, it's one of the better digital zooms we've seen and useful to have when you need it. It's worth noting that you won't be able to shoot digital zoom when photographing in raw format, meaning you'll have to turn that off first - a little annoying if you're quickly trying to capture a moment.
Focus speed
Focusing is generally pretty quick, and usually accurate. It's a shame you can't set the autofocus point yourself, but using the 23-point system is generally accurate, so you may not miss it too much. Macro focusing is available via a dedicated button and allows you to get very close to the subject - so close in fact that the lens can be almost touching the subject - to produce detailed macros. In low light, focusing can take a little longer, especially in low contrast environments.
General-purpose metering does a decent job of producing correct exposures, even when shooting high contrast scenes which may otherwise throw off the metering sensor. In daylight conditons, automatic white balance does a good job of producing accurate colours, but it does err heavily towards warm tones when shooting under artificial lighting, meaning switching to a more appropriate white balance is preferable.
Processing speeds are generally quick, although when shooting in very low light, the camera can take a while to process high sensitivity shots - sometimes up to three or four seconds, which isn't particularly conducive to shooting fast moving action. In good light, processing is much quicker though.
Speaking of low light, when shooting at high sensitivities, such as ISO 3200, there is evidence of image noise and loss of detail when examining at 100%, but if sharing online or printing at less than A4, images look good, and certainly better than not capturing the moment at all.
The screen on the back of the camera does fairly well, even in reasonably bright conditions, though of course it would have been nice to see an articulating or tilting device. The EVF isn't too bad, as far as EVFs go - it's certainly a lot better than the device found on the Canon SX50 HS. However, it's still quite a small device and some may struggle with it, or only really use it in very bright conditions.
At 20mm, the FZ72's wide angle lens is wider than its nearest competitors on the market and means you can get creative with wide angle shots or fit more into the scene.
The zoom function of the FZ72 is its standout feature. Here we can compare an image taken at the wide angle, in which you can barely see a clock face in the centre of the frame.
Here at the full 60x zoom function, the full clock face is visible and the optical stabilisation system has done an excellent job of keeping blur to a minimum even though this picture was shot handheld.
The FZ72's macro focusing option allows you to get very close to the subject to produce frame-filling pictures.
Here again we can take a look at the zoom function. Here's another shot at the 20mm wide angle.
Now look at the 60x optical zoom to see how close the lens can get.
If you do need extra reach, the camera's decent digital zoom comes in handy and allows you to get even closer. There is some loss of detail, but it's certainly good enough to share online and so on.
The FZ72 has a dedicated panoramic mode, which is easy to use. Simply pan the camera across the scene and release the shutter button when you want the camera to stop recording.
In artificial lighting conditions, the FZ72's automatic white balance tends towards the warm side. Meanwhile, noise is visible in this shot taken at ISO 3200, especially when examining at 100%.
Digital filters
The bridge camera area of the market remains steadily buoyant in an otherwise declining area, and it's thanks to cameras such as the FZ72 which offer so much more than a mobile phone or simple point or shoot probably ever will.
In the FZ72, there's a lot to appeal to a wide range of different consumers. For the photographer that's looking to start getting more serious about photography, this camera offers a satisfying level of manual control and features things such as raw format shooting which means you could learn a lot. Similarly, for those used to shooting with DSLRs but looking to downsize now, the large number of direct control buttons and dials will surely be appealing.
It's a shame Panasonic hasn't invested a little more into the screen and EVF of the FZ72. They're both fairly low resolution, while the screen itself isn't articulated or tilting, which is useful for shooting from awkward angles. It's also not touch sensitive, which is starting to become fairly standard nowadays - we know Panasonic is capable of producing excellent touchscreens as we've seen them on the G series of CSCs, so it would have been nice to see one here.
Putting that aside, images are generally great, with special mention for those shot in good lighting conditions. The zoom function is of course the real stand out feature, and this doesn't disappoint, even when shooting at the telephoto end of the optic. Digital zoom is also good, so if you really do need 120x zoom, then you should be pleased with this camera.
It's a shame there's no inbuilt Wi-Fi for instantly sharing images, but perhaps this would have pushed the price of the camera a little too high.
We liked
The best thing about this camera is its huge zoom ratio. It's the world's longest available, and at 60x you've got a lot of flexibility. It's also nice to see that the widest point of the lens is 20mm, a good chunk wider than its nearest rivals and making it ideal for landscapes and capturing a large amount of the scene - traveling or holidaying photographers should love it.
We disliked
It seems like an odd decision on a camera with so much manual control that is aimed at enthusiasts to not allow you to change the autofocus point. We'd like to see that addressed for the next version of this camera, as having to focus and recompose can be a little frustrating when you've paid a decent chunk of money for a camera.
Final verdict
At first glance, a camera like this seems pretty expensive, being as it costs roughly the same - or in some cases more - than a beginner level DSLR with a sensor size far exceeding the FZ72's 1 /2.3 inch device. However, for your money you get a huge amount of flexibility with that 60x zoom that you just wouldn't be able to achieve with a DSLR without shelling out a lot of money and carrying around a huge piece of equipment. This camera would be a great option for holidaying and travel photographers, as well as those stepping up to learn more about photography or those looking to lighten the load a little.
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